Читать книгу A Wife for Jacob - Rebecca Kertz - Страница 11

Chapter Three

“Aren’t you done with that family?”

Jacob buttoned his light blue shirt without glancing toward his twin brother. “Which family?”

“The Zooks.” The mattress springs squeaked as Eli sat and kicked against the bed’s wooden frame.

“What are you trying to tell me?” He knew what Eli was hinting at, but he wanted to hear him say it.

“I’m reminding you that while Horseshoe Joe was gut to you, you can’t say the same for his daughter.”

Jacob sighed as he pulled one suspender over his shoulder before drawing up the other one. “So, I once liked Annie, and she liked Jed. I got over her years ago.”

“So you say.” Eli rose from his bed, bent to pick up a shoe, which he pointed at Jacob. “Mark my words. She still pines for him, Jake. Even though he’s married to Sarah now.”

Jacob grabbed the black shoe, and with a teasing look Eli retrieved the other one from the floor for him. “And I shouldn’t help Horseshoe Joe because Annie likes Jed?” He snatched the second shoe from Eli’s hand and set both back onto the floor. He pulled on his socks.

“Nay,” Eli said. “I just want you to be mindful of the past. I know ya like the back of my own hand, like you know me.” He grinned, and his blue eyes crinkled at the corners. “We are twins after all.” He plucked a straw hat off the wall peg.

“We are?” Jacob replied with feigned surprise. He grinned as he snatched his hat from his twin’s hands and tossed it on the bed. “I’m not a boy, Eli. Neither are you. And I’m not pining for Annie.” Although he was very glad he’d been able to help in her time of need. “Do you ever think about marrying someday?”

“Ja, I think about it.” Eli ran a hand through his golden-blond hair. “But until I find the right one to wed, I’ll not be thinking too much of it.” He grinned, displaying even white teeth.

Jacob laughed. He loved his brother, not necessarily more than the rest but differently, with the love born of brothers who’d entered this earth on the same day. A relationship which started in Mam’s womb, he thought. The connection between them was strong. They’d been raised from the cradle together, although no one looking at them would believe them twins. Eli’s hair was as fair as his was dark. Day and night, someone had once said of them. They might be different in looks, but that was all. They were close, often sharing each other’s thoughts, sometimes finishing each other’s sentences.

Eli, more than anyone, had understood how he’d felt when Annie Zook had finally won Jed’s attention. They’d been sixteen years old, and although it had been years since he’d stopped hanging about Zook’s Blacksmithy, hoping for a glimpse of Annie, his loss hadn’t been any less painful. He was over Annie, and she certainly didn’t care for him. So why was she so wary of him? Simply because Jed was his brother?

“You don’t have to worry about me.” Jacob slipped on his shoes, then propped a foot onto a wooden chest to tie his shoelaces. “Annie made it clear that she only tolerates me because I stopped to help Joe. Once the ambulance arrived, she wanted me to leave.” He lowered his right leg and raised his left.

“But you stayed anyway,” Eli pointed out.

“Ja.” Jacob finished up and straightened. “I went to the hospital and the haus.” When he’d returned home the day of Horseshoe Joe’s accident, he had confided in Eli how he’d gone to the Zooks’ to check on the house and Millie, and dared to stay to help out. Annie hadn’t liked it, although she’d seemed grateful that he’d found her dog. “Why should I care what she thinks? I was concerned about Joe. And I was worried about her dog.”

Eli laughed. “You were worried about the dog.” His brother regarded him with sympathy, as if Jacob were fooling himself to think that his time at Annie’s had anything to do with an animal. “And now you’re going to talk with Horseshoe Joe, to see if he’ll let you take over his work in his shop until he is well. From what I’ve heard, his recovery could take twelve weeks or more.” Eli paused. “That’s a long time.

“Ja, I know, but I’ll be available if Dat needs me.” He retrieved his hat from the bed, then preceded Eli out of their room and down the stairs to the first floor. “If I have to, I’ll work part-time in the shop and the rest at the farm.”

“As long as Horseshoe Joe agrees,” Eli said from behind him.

“As long as Joe agrees to what?” Isaac asked as he came out from the back of the house.

“Jacob is going to offer to work in the blacksmith shop while Joe recovers,” Eli told their younger brother.

Isaac shrugged as he continued past them. “I’m sure Joe will appreciate it,” he threw back over his shoulder, before he started up the stairs.

“Jake, I hope you know what you’re doing.” Eli followed his brother into the yard. “Helping Joe will put you in frequent company with Annie.

“It will,” Jacob said. “And her sister Barbara. Shall I worry about her, too?”

Eli chuckled. “Maybe you should.”

“Jacob!” Dat exited the house and approached. “Heading over to the Zooks’?” Jacob nodded. “I’d like to go with you.”

“I’ll bring around the buggy.” Jacob flashed a cheeky glance at his twin brother before he headed toward the family’s gray buggy, parked near the barn. As he climbed into the vehicle and grabbed up the leathers, he thought of what his brother had said, and he knew that Eli was right. He had liked Annie Zook as a boy, and she had liked—still liked—his brother Jed. But he was no longer a boy. He was a man who could control his emotions. Besides, without any means to offer a wife, he’d not be thinking of courting or marrying anytime in the near future.

* * *

“When are you going to think about marrying?”

Annie looked up from the piecrust she’d been rolling on a floured board on the kitchen worktable. “Mam, who said I don’t think about it?”

Her mother went to a cabinet and withdrew a tin of cinnamon. “I don’t mean about marrying Jedidiah Lapp. That one is taken. It’s time you looked elsewhere.”

“I know that.” She set down the wooden rolling pin and then wiped her hands on a tea towel. “It’s not as if I can marry the next man who walks through that door,” Annie said patiently as she carefully lifted the edge of the crust and set it into the pie pan. With skill born of experience, she molded the dough against the sides and then turned under the excess along the rim before she pressed the edges into place with a dinner fork.

Mam set the cinnamon tin within her reach and then began to cut up a stick of butter. “Annie,” she said softly. “I know Jed hurt you, and I understand that you’ve decided it would be better for you to marry someone older—”

“Much older,” Annie said with a smile for her mother. “A man who will care for me and accept me as I am. It’s a gut plan.”

“Maybe,” Mam said, nodding. “I don’t know that you should limit your choices. You’re not getting any younger.”

“Mam!” Annie began to core and cut up fresh cooking apples.

“’Tis true.” Mam started to help her, grabbing an apple and slicing it in half. “The thing is, Annie, your vadder’s accident is going to hurt us financially. I have faith that his hospital bills will be paid, but with him unable to work in the shop...”

Annie recalled Jacob Lapp’s offer to help, then she promptly forced it from her mind. Jacob had apparently taken her at her word that he couldn’t fill in for Dat, and that was fine. “What does Dat’s accident have to do with me marrying?”

Mam had cut up two apples, and she reached for a third. “We’d like to see you settled with a husband, someone who can provide for you.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. “You and Dat want me to wed so that you don’t have to provide for me?”

“Nay,” Mam said, “that’s not what I’m saying at all. Your dat and I love you. But we—I—worry that you’ve not considered your future. You’re a caring young woman. You’ll make some man a fine wife.”

“I’ll not approach a man and ask him to marry me,” Annie said, horrified at the idea.

“Nay.” Mam dumped the apples into a large bowl, which she pushed toward Annie. “I’m simply saying that if a man shows interest in you, you consider him seriously.”

Annie sprinkled sugar and cinnamon over the apples and stirred them through. “I will,” she said, “if one shows interest.” She didn’t have much to worry about. No man since Jed Lapp had taken notice of her yet.

Mam smiled. “Gut. I like having you here—it’s not that.”

She felt herself relax. “I know you want only what’s best for me.”

“Ja,” Mam said. “I want what’s best for all of my children.”

The thud of footsteps resounded on the front wooden porch—the new covered porch with the wheelchair ramp, built by the church community men to help with her father’s recovery.

“Miriam?” Samuel Lapp’s voice called out as he approached the screen door.

Annie smiled as her mother left the kitchen to greet Samuel. She liked Jedidiah Lapp’s dat. He was a kind, caring man, who loved his family and was always available for whenever anyone within their church community needed him. As she continued to work on the apple pie, she heard murmuring voices. Samuel must have come to visit with her father. She carefully spooned the apples onto the crust, aware of when her mother entered the kitchen. “Mam, would you pass me the container of brown sugar? I left it on the counter.”

The container of brown sugar was set before her. She looked up to smile her thanks and then promptly froze at the sight of Jacob Lapp, standing on the other side of the table, watching her with his laughing, golden eyes.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped. His dark hair looked neatly combed despite the fact that he had obviously just removed his hat upon entering the house. His jaw was clean shaven, like all of the other unmarried young men within their village of Happiness. She lifted her gaze from the smooth skin of his chin and cheeks to a nose that was well formed and masculine, up to those twinkling tawny eyes of his. It felt like dancing butterflies flitted across her nape as some unknown emotion passed over her. Disturbed, she quickly looked away.

“Your mudder sent me for the pitcher of iced tea. Dat and I have come for a visit with your vadder.”

Her heart raced as she narrowed her eyes at him. “The tea is over there,” she instructed, “in the refrigerator.” She gestured toward a back room. Aware of her flour-and cinnamon-dusted hands, she quickly went back to work, fixing the crumb topping that would form the upper “crust” of the apple pie. She was aware that Jacob hadn’t moved. She could feel him studying her and pretended she didn’t notice until her mother returned from the family gathering room, where her father spent the better part of his days recuperating.

“Did you find the iced tea, Jacob?” Mam asked.

“Annie just told me where to find it,” he said.

“I’ll get it,” her mother offered as Jacob moved closer to the worktable.

He leaned forward, nearly invading her space. She stepped back and glared at him. He simply smiled at her. “That looks gut,” he said. “I always enjoy being in the kitchen on Mam’s baking day.”

Annie paused, looked up. “Making an apple pie?” she taunted.

A slow smile curved his handsome lips. “I don’t cook, but I’ve helped a time or two.” Her mother returned from the back room and handed him the iced tea. He held on to the glass pitcher and said, “Nothing like a slice of hot apple pie, fresh from the oven on baking day.”

“Except maybe a piece of warm apple pie with a scoop of homemade ice cream.” Mam went to the pantry and took out a tray of cookies. “Pie won’t be done for a while, how about these instead?”

“These are great.” Jacob grinned, and Annie told herself that she wasn’t affected by his smile or his good looks.

“Annie made them,” Mam said, and Annie wanted to cry out with frustration.

“You helped.” She measured out the brown sugar, dumped it in a small bowl and added the butter her mother had cut up earlier.

Jacob grabbed a chocolate-chip cookie from the plate and took a bite. “Delicious.”

Annie shot him a glance and felt her heart flutter at his look. “It’s just a cookie,” she said, her tone sharp. There is no need to be hostile, she reminded herself. She drew a calming breath and managed to smile. “I’m glad you like it.”

Why was he here? Why did he seek her out? Had Jed said something to him about her? She didn’t want to know, for she feared the truth might hurt her.

“I’ll take these into the other room.” Jacob sniffed, as if detecting a scent. “I can smell them. Lemon?” He took another whiff and nodded. “And this one here smells like almond extract.” He held up the plate with one hand. “I’d sure like to try that pie.”

Annie saw Jacob smile at her mother, felt the bright light of it and looked away. She was relieved when he left the room with the refreshments, for she didn’t want to notice anything about him—or to remember the attractive, teasing twinkle in his eyes while he ate one of her cookies.

* * *

“Jacob!” Horseshoe Joe sat in his chair with his leg cast propped up on a padded stool that Jacob’s brother Noah had made for him.

“We were just talking about you,” Samuel said.

Jacob raised his eyebrows as he approached with iced tea and cookies and set them down. “What about?”

“Joe wants to ask you something,” his father said.

He glanced back and forth between the two older men. “Ja?” He was pleased to note that Joe looked much better since his return home nearly two weeks before. The color had returned to the older man’s cheeks. But Joe couldn’t get around well yet.

Joe tried to adjust his leg, and Jacob’s dat helped him shift it to a more comfortable position. “You must know that I still have weeks of recovery before me.” Jacob nodded. “I go back to the doctor next Tuesday.” The older man suddenly seemed uncertain. “I was wondering, Jake...”

Concerned, Jacob placed a hand on his shoulder. “What is it, Joe?”

“Would ya consider taking over for me until I’m well?” Joe asked quickly. Seated next to him in a wooden chair, Jacob’s father was nodding.

Jacob stepped back. “You want me to take over your work in the shop?” He thought of Annie. Maybe he shouldn’t accept the job. He didn’t want to antagonize the woman further, if he could help it. But how could he deny Joe his assistance, especially since the thought of returning to the art of blacksmithing tempted him?

Joe nodded. “If you would. I know you’re busy, but you would be a big help, if you could. If not, I’ll understand.” He reached up to rub his bearded chin. “I’ll pay you for your work.”

“Nay, if I do this, you’ll not be paying me.” Jacob picked up the cookies, placed them within Joe’s reach and then chose to sit across the room. He suffered a moment of doubt but couldn’t ignore the expectant look on Horseshoe Joe’s face. He sighed inwardly. Annie wouldn’t like it, but he had to help out Joe. “I’ll be more than happy to help you, Joe.” While the idea of working in the shop thrilled him, it also gave him a little chill. “It’s been years since I helped—bothered—you with my interest in blacksmithing. I was only a boy.”

“At twelve, you were hardly a boy. You have a talent for the job, son. I had faith in you then, and I have faith that you can do the work now.” He grinned. “And I’ll be nearby if ya happen to need me.”

“Josiah doesn’t want to step in?”

Joe shook his head. “He never learned about forging metal, never wanted to. You are the only one who took an interest in my work and my business. You and my girls, Annie and Barbara, who liked to watch when they were younger.”

“And I liked to be in the thick of everything,” Jacob agreed.

“Ja, you did.” Joe exchanged glances with Jacob’s father.

“Will you do it, Jake?” his father asked.

“Heat and bend metal, watch it glow?” Jacob grinned. “Ja, I’ll do it.”

“Do what?” Annie asked as she entered the room with clear glasses. She set them down, picked up the pitcher and began to pour out the tea.

“Jacob’s agreed to fill in for me at the shop,” Joe said.

“That’s nice of him,” Annie said after a lengthy pause. When she shot him an angry glance, Jacob raised an eyebrow at her.

He noted a bit of flour dust on her cheek and in her hair. She wore a patchwork apron over a spring-green dress. A few strands of her blond hair had escaped from the edge of her prayer kapp, where she must have wiped cinnamon from her forehead with the back of her hand. The cinnamon was still there—barely. He could detect the scent rather than see any of the spice’s warm brown color.

As she worked to fill each glass, he watched emotion play across her features. It moved so fast no one else might have noticed, but he did. She wasn’t happy that he’d be coming to the farm daily. She hadn’t known about her father’s plan. Jacob felt a smile start, but he stifled it until she briefly looked his way, and then he released it.

“That will be a great help to Dat,” she said, turning away, and his amusement grew.

“Ja, I’ll be around to help every day—” he glanced toward Joe “—or whenever ya need me to come.”

“Can you start tomorrow?” Joe asked.

Jacob looked to his father. “Can you make do without me on the farm?”

His dat nodded. “I’ve plenty of help.” He turned toward his friend. “Tomorrow will be fine, Joe.”

“Then I’ll be here then.” Jacob watched Joe reach for a cookie. Recalling his enjoyment of his first one, he reached for another. Annie Zook was a fine baker. He flashed Annie an admiring glance as she turned to stare at him, before she looked away. He continued to study her. For some reason, she always found fault with him. He didn’t know what bothered her about him, but he was sure he’d find out eventually. For now, he had to concentrate on doing a good job at Zook’s Blacksmithy. “I’ll not let you down, Joe,” he said.

Horseshoe Joe swallowed before answering. “Never thought ya would.” He grinned as he brought the cookie to his lips. “I know you’ll do me proud,” he said before taking another bite.

“If not,” Dat said, “he’ll have to answer to me.” His teasing tone made Jacob smile.

“It’s not you I worry about, Dat.”

“Nay, it’s your mudder.” And the three men laughed together at his father’s remark, while Annie scurried out of the room.